"Three Nuts For Orlando"
Part 3
by Beryll & Osiris Brackhaus

 

- David -

Outside an incredibly bright, cheerful winter morning was dawning. The sun reflected off the untouched snow, filling the last day of the year with light.

It was eight in the morning, I was wide awake, completely sober and didn't even have a shred of a hangover. Which meant I had nothing whatsoever to distract me from the fact that tonight my freedom would end. Tonight would be the great 'sell the prince'-market. And everybody was coming to get a piece of me. Dad had even convinced some of his friends from Europe to come over and bring their daughters.

I sat up in my bed, rubbing my face, and tried desperately to hang on to the shred of hope my mother had managed to evoke in me yesterday.

The week between Christmas and New Years Eve had passed in icy silence between me and my parents. The whole household had been busy preparing for the 'grand affair', but somehow all that had passed me by. The only thing that I had been required to do was try on the costume they had devised for me.

I hate to admit it, but it was not THAT bad. They hadn't even forced me into tights instead choosing tightly fitting leather leggings. A frilly but reasonable doublet, feathered head and knee-high boots completed the outfit and although I would never be caught saying so out loud I did look rather striking in it.

Dom and Billy had not gotten away that easily. As my father had announced gleefully - a prince needs a horse. So he had acquired one of those horrible two-person horse costumes. They had both balked at the idea of actually wearing it. But they didn't have more choice than I had if they didn't want to go back to their own furious parents. And it was only one evening after all. They were still trying to decide who was going to be the front of the horse and who the backside. I would have laughed if it hadn't been so depressing.

Yesterday my mother had finally relented and asked me if I would like to go for a little walk in the snow-white forest. I had gratefully agreed. To be enemies with father - I was used to that. But her constant anger had hurt deeply. Her opinion DID count for me and I hated it when I made her upset.

For the most part we had just walked in silence. I would have loved to complain about Dad again, but I already knew what her answer would be. That both of us were equally stubborn and just made each other unhappy. And hurt her with our anger. She was right, of course. But that still didn't give Dad the right to ruin my life.

So I was rather surprised when she brought up the subject herself.

"You really worry too much about this." she told me, when we had been almost back to the mansion. "How do you know there will not be that special someone at the party who is meant for you?"

I had drawn breath to argue, to tell her again, that I didn't want a wife... more precisely a woman, but she had just patted my arm reassuringly.

"Why don't you just keep your eyes open and wait and see. Or you might miss the chance to dance with the possible love of your life. Trust your mother on this, dear, nothing happens without a purpose."

Then she had sounded as if she knew exactly what she was talking about, like she somehow knew more about this than I did. Now the idea, that there might actually be a cute boy to fall in love with at the party sounded like a distant dream. And father wouldn't allow that anyway, would he? But maybe mother would...

Again I wished for a hangover. To be so clear had major disadvantaged. Like being able to think about your bleak future.

But yesterday evening I really hadn't felt like partying so Dom and Billy had gone off to town on their own and I had stayed behind to go to bed early. It had seemed like a good idea then.

Now what was I going to do with this beautiful morning of New Years Eve? I was definitely too awake to just stay in bed and wait for the inevitable party like a docile cow waiting for the slaughter.

But to walk around the house, surveying the preparations for my execution didn't sound very appealing either. So I had to get away.

For once I actually had a good idea. In winter the lake near the main house of the country club was frozen and cleared for skating. There wouldn't be many people there this early. A perfect opportunity to escape for a while and enjoy the wonderful morning without distraction. An opportunity to forget for two or three hours. Pretend I was still a teenager with his whole life before him.

Dear heavens, I sounded as if I was sixty, not twenty-three. Better get out of here fast.

----

- Orlando -

I was confused, very confused.

I was out of work.

It was the morning of New Year's Eve, Cate and Liv were out shopping, and as the main party would not be hosted at our place this year, there was nothing left to prepare.
My stepmother was so taken with the Senator's ball tonight that she had even forgotten to make my life miserable for the last days. And so, I had some spare time on my own.
What utterly unheard-of circumstances.

But of course, I used the occasion to take Nicholas out for an extended ride in the sunny morning, enjoying the mild weather and lovely light. And, as usual, I ended up paying a visit to Rosalie at the lodge.
And as I had almost feared, she was in THAT kind of mood again.

"Roo-roo-roohoo!", she pointed out, again excitedly hopping up and down on the cupboard.

"Rosalie, please. I'm not going to waste one of the nuts today. Who knows if I won't need it far more in times to come?"

But in a way, I was tempted to do so anyway. Picking the heavy golden ring I had won at the tournament out of the drawer I had stored it in, turning it around in my hand, I mused if I would meet David again if I did use one of these magic little thingamabobs.

"Rooooh...", my owl growled impatiently.

"Are you sure?"

"Roo."

With a sigh, I picked up the twig with the remaining two hazelnuts, still a bit unsure, but already so excited what I was about to find inside.

"Really?"

"ROO!"

"Okay, okay..."

Boy, Rosalie definitely was convinced it had to be NOW. What if I hadn't decided to come here today in the first place? Would she have come to the mansion to get me?
Well, I shouldn't dwell on that too long. Gave me the headaches, for if I honestly was expecting a dashing outfit in a hazelnut, an owl trying to arrange dates for me suddenly wasn't that improbable an idea anymore.
My life definitely had taken a heavy turn to the weird side, I wondered; feeling a bit queasy for I had no idea at all where this all was heading.

Well, on a second thought, it was heading in David's direction, so I was more than inclined to take the risks I had to face on the way.

Smiling at the memory of his confused face as he noticed I had disappeared from the tournament, I broke the second nut off the twig. A white suit definitely is a perfect thing to wear if you're tying to hide in a snowy forest.
Poor David. But he was terribly cute when confused.

Closing my eyes, as if making a wish, I took the nut and dropped it over my shoulder, smiling in excitement as I heard the rustle of cloth and a surprisingly heavy impact on the wooden floor.

I swirled around, and whatever I had expected to see, it surely had not included a pair of snow-white skates.
Even though it happened to me the second time already, I was still irritated that so much stuff could fit into such a small thing, and went to examine the other things that had turned up so magically in my possession.

Dark brown trousers, another pair of shoes for the way to wherever, a turtlenecked pullover of the softest, almost feathery white wool I had ever seen and, strangely enough, a small, leather wallet.

Now that was something interesting. Opening the wallet, I found it empty except for a small, golden card - a premium member's card of our local country-club, complete with my name and picture ingrained into the material.
Not even father had had one, in so far as I could remember from the few times he had taken me there.

So apparently, I was expected to go skating at the local country-club. If David would be there? And since when there was a skating-track at the Club? Must have build one lately...

Shrugging off the doubts I started to undress, shivering in the cold air. Wondering about such details was quite a waste of time when confronted with, well, magic. I had never really believed in things like this, and now it was happening right in my life. But it was somewhat justified, I decided when I put on the dark trousers. I had suffered my share of unbelievable meanness already, and it was only right that now something incredibly good happened to me. Was about time.

Fascinated by the incredible soft material of the pullover, I silently wished for a mirror. Again, the clothes fit like a second skin, probably showing as much of my body as possible without being outright naked. Only the sleeves seemed to be a bit too long, passing well over my palms, but that probably was intended.
I didn't even try on the skates to see if they would fit. They would be perfect, I knew already, as flawless and precious as everything I obtained this way.
And just for completeness: I didn't even blink when I noticed Nicholas having been cleaned and brushed, wearing a bridle and saddle as beautiful and subtly expensive as I had ever seen and surely never owned.

There even was a bag for the skates, and feeling a bit dazed, we set off for the half-hour ride to the Club.

*

"Could I please have your card, Sir?", the uniformed clerk at the Club's foyer asked me politely yet pointedly.

Wordlessly handing him the tiny golden thing, I watched the people around me in silent amazement. For the last years I had been used to be stared at for my run-down looks, most of the visitor's at our place mistaking me for the garden-boy. But here, people stared at me in, well, I don't know. Maybe they wondered why they had never noticed such a handsome boy around before. And that I had my own card to enter their exalted world at my age definitely added to their curiosity.

"Thank you, Sir", the clerk said as he handed me back the card. "Anything special we should be arranging for your horse as long as you stay here?"

"Sorry?"

I had handed Nicholas' reigns to a member of staff not even a minute ago, asking him to wait there until I had found a way to arrange accommodation for him, hopefully not in a garage as that night at Joey's.
But the clerk just looked at the discreetly hidden monitor in his desk, saying:

"Your horse, Sir. Nicholas."

"Well, yes, he will need a place to stay while I'm here - "

"We have already been informed that you would arrive on horseback, and we allowed ourselves to arrange for accommodation. Would you like to check on him if everything is all right, Sir?"

"No, no, I'm sure he's in good care."

Way cool. So it's going to be a pleasant morning for Nicholas as well.

"But, as you ask me, he might be somewhat hungry. Would you mind to take care he is fed well?"

"Of course, Sir. Anything else?"

"Well, I heard there was a nice possibility to go skating here..."

"Sir, we have cleared the swan's lake for skating this year, right below the main house, you'll find the way signed out if you take the bar's exit to the gardens. If you need anything, please inform the staff at the pavilion."

"Thank you, ... Jeff.", I said after a short glance on the clerk's nameplate and was surprised by his beaming smile I got in return.

"Thanks, Sir, and have a nice stay, Sir", 'Jeff' replied in genuine affection.

Probably he was considered some kind of very useful furniture by the other guests of this establishment. But still being a pizza-boy at heart, it was quite difficult for me not to treat him as real person, I noted with a happy smile.

Tipping my imaginary hat to Jeff, I left the lobby and crossed the bar to exit on the building's other side.
And stopped dead in my tracks as the breathtaking view I had from the main house hit me.

Located on a long slope, the place looked down into the valley, lawns, trees and the golf-course equally covered by a thin, glittering layer of snow, broken only by the dark brown paths that led here and there. Down at the foot of the hill I was standing on, the mirror-like surface of the lake glistened in the brilliant sun, already making my feet itch to run and get my skates on.
On the center of the ice, a large wrought-iron pavilion had been erected, white fabric between stark black art-nouveau ornaments. Tiny, fitting tables and chairs had been placed underneath the white canopy, and a small matching pavilion at the lake's shore apparently offered the matching refreshments.
It looked lovely.
And very inviting.

Only a few people were around at this relatively early hour of the day, and when I arrived at the benches that had been prepared at the shore for guests to change their shoes, only a couple and their two kids were on the ice, merrily trying to get their youngest to feel comfortable on the uncommon ground.
And David was there.

Somewhat grumpily, his hands behind his back, he made his rounds, circling the empty pavilion at the center again and again.

So my charming boy had a gloomy morning today, I mused. Well, I was about to change that. Probably he was feeling hopeless about tonight, but he at least still had a choice, unlike some others, I thought grimly as I put on my shoes, immediately regretting my rashness. He had probably been given just as much of a real choice as I had been with Nicholas, so I should be a bit more sympathetic.
But that shouldn't be very difficult, I mused, especially not considering how exceedingly handsome he looked this morning. David wore dark blue denims, some pale green long-sleeved T-shirt and a matching denim vest, it's lambskin lining showing at the hems. He looked striking, and was completely oblivious of this fact, which made him all the more adorable.
His blond hair was shining in the sun, and I even imagined to see the green sparkle of his eyes whenever he came close to the shore. But he didn't notice anything apart from the occasional human obstacle on the ice.

"Thank you, Christopher", I said to the guy who took my shoes to store them while I was on the ice, inwardly beaming at his happy-but-confused smile I got in return. I loved this game.

I went onto the ice, and soon was turning my circles as smoothly as David. Seems that quite a lot of old skills is coming back to me, I thought, feeling in a most splendid mood. Well, now let's see how we can gain David's attention.

Apparently, just being on the ice with him didn't work.
Skating close to him, around him, besides him - no reaction whatsoever.

Well, I thought, if subtlety doesn't work, try for obviousness. So I started to skate right in front of David's feet, carefully blocking each of his attempts to pass me by and kept on doing so for quite a while.

Only when I was sure that by now he must have been tugged out of his almost autistic state by my most annoying behavior, I decided to act. In an exceedingly daring maneuver compared to my limited skills, I turned around, skating backwards for a while, searching for his eyes.
And when our looks met, his emerald eyes sparkled with mirth, and his delicious lips curved up in the most electrifying little smirk I had ever seen.

I could have jumped him right on the spot.

----

- David -

I had really just wanted to skate in peace for a while. Of course there had been the quite real possibility that one of my 'brides to be' would show up at the country club as well, but I was counting on the fact that they would need all day to prepare for the party.

What I had not counted on was this exceedingly cute boy that made it a point to gain my attention and hold it.

His feet were what I noticed first, as they were right in front of me and he made sure I could not overlook them. They were very small and delicate, even in the skates. How could any grown man have feet as sweet as that?

And what was wrong with me for suddenly paying that much attention to feet? Was I developing a fetish now? First the little squirrel in the tree and now this... Yeah, what exactly. Maybe I should have a look at the boy attached to the feet.

So I let my gaze travel upward along long lean legs in a tight brown slags, a torso hidden in the furriest white pullover I had ever come across to a mouth smiling friendly till I came to a stop when I met his equally friendly brown eyes.

Only then did I realize that he was skating backwards to be able to look at me and that made me smile as well. What a wonderful way to be brought out of your brooding.

For a long moment we smiled at each other, then he made a turn and came to skate next to me.

And he was most definitely eyeing me with more than a healthy dose of companionable interest. I had never been very good at judging people, but this one was most assuredly hitting on me in the most subtle and elegant way I had ever encountered.

We took a few more simple turns around the pavilion, but then recklessness gripped me. It was my last day of freedom after all. My last chance to flirt, even if it wouldn't amount to anything.

So I started skating a bit faster, circling him while he kept his course around the pavilion. His grin grew wider and he started to veer off to one side, making me work harder to keep my circling up. Both of us upped the speed again and again, till we were more than a bit breathless and chasing each other around the lake relentlessly.

I did notice that he was not the most experienced of skaters, so I was prepared when he lost his balance and caught him before he could fall. I held him just a moment too long, just a long moment to feel his warm body beneath his clothes. Then I put him onto his feet again, grinning.

"Would you care for a cup of coffee?" I asked, hoping that I had not overstepped any invisible boundary.

His bright smile alleviated my fears immediately. "Sure. If you make it a hot chocolate for me?"

Should have known that a sweet thing like him would drink something sweet as well. "Please be my guest." I said, inviting him over to the pavilion with a grand gesture as if I owned the place.

I waited till one of the waiters on skates had taken my order before I leaned back and studied my guest more closely. He was good-looking, no doubt about that, and he didn't seem to know he was. He watched his surroundings with a shy interest that made just that more likable. He managed to look like all this was a wonderful novelty, making him exceedingly happy. And he somehow transferred some of his wonder to me, even if it was he I was marveling at.

When he realized I had been watching him he blushed for the shortest of moments and then beamed at me in obvious joy and I found myself smiling back just as happily. He liked me watching him! Now if that wasn't something to be happy about!

"Do you come here often?" I started some small talk that I hoped would bring up some information about this cute boy.

He shook his head. "No, I haven't been here in years."

"Me too. I have been at boarding school, but now it doesn't look like I will go back." I looked around the frozen lake. "But they did arrange the whole thing rather nicely, didn't they?"

My new friend nodded. "So you are finished with school?" he asked.

What was I supposed to say to that? Probably just the truth. "No, they kicked me out."

"Oh." His smile didn't waver. "Is it because of that, that you were so gloomy when I first saw you?"

I had looked gloomy? Thinking about the way I had felt doing endless circles around the pavilion I had to admit that this was probably true. Although now I was feeling rather happy.

"No." I answered his question truthfully. "I've been having trouble with my parents."
What an understatement.

"I know the feeling. Is it about money?" he said, looking genuinely sympathetic.

"Only partly. It's mainly about responsibility, character flaws on my part and a craving for control on my father's part."

He smiled unhappily, as if he knew exactly what I was talking about. "Sounds lovely..."

The waiter brought my coffee and his chocolate. For a while we were both stirring sugar into our respective hot drinks. I eyed the crusty little cookie that accompanied my coffee with a healthy dose of suspicion. I had always hated these things.

"Would you like my cookie?" I asked.

He grinned. "Most certainly not." He put his own cookie on his spoon and flicked it away. We both watched it spin helplessly across the ice and I offered him mine to send it the same way. Then we both watched each other for a while and warmed our hands on the steaming cups.

"Will you be at the party tonight?" I asked, hope mingling with the dreaded knowledge that a boy as good-looking as he would have something more important to do.

"What party?"

Now look at that. There were people who did not know about my upcoming execution. How had that happened? Where had he been hiding? Or maybe his household just didn't have a girl the right age.

"Well, the 'grand affair'!" I spread my arms wide to encompass the whole country club. "I thought everybody around here was going."

"Oh, that party!" he shrugged. "I don't think so, will you go?"

I snorted unhappily. "I have to. I'm the first prize."

His eyes went wide. "You're THAT David?"

"Yes, sadly, yes."

"I'm sorry. Isn't there at least one bearable girl?"

I eyed him curiously. "Well... if I was into girls, there might be a chance..."

He actually looked extremely satisfied with that answer. So I had not mistaken his interest in me.

"And your father has no idea about this?" he asked.

"He has. He doesn't care. Thinks getting married will do a whole lot of good for my character, making me a responsible, loving, caring husband."

"Loving, caring heterosexual husband?"

"Exactly." I realized I was actually grinning.

"Ouch. That's dire."

I shrugged. "I'm planning on a quick divorce."

He shook his head thoughtfully. "Parents somehow manage to show a surprising lack of reasonability these days."

"Yeah." I smiled at him as charmingly as I possibly could. "So what about you? Any girlfriend or boyfriend?"

"No." He took a polite sip of his chocolate. "The only one I might be interested in will get married quite soon. And I wouldn't be able to marry him anyway."

My heart made a painful somersault in my chest and landed happily bouncing up and down. "Really? That's bad. And why would anybody refuse to marry such a cute boy as you are?" I asked, now flirting in earnest.

"Money? Family matters?"

"What kind of reasons are that? I am sure I would do anything to win the heart of a boy like you."

He blushed slightly. "That's sweet of you." There was a strange mixture of tentative love and sadness in his eyes and I found myself gently taking his hand and holding it.

----

- Orlando -

Oh heavens, he was sweet!

All this flirting on his side made me want to jump up and run a few rounds just to calm my racing heart. And I had to fight a blush every other second. I could have squeaked of joy, happy as I was.

He was definitely interested in me, and didn't mind me being a boy, and he was so sweet and lovely and, and...
He was holding my hand.

I could have cried at this soft, gentle gesture of affection, so much had I been craving any loving human touch. But I just took a deep breath, calming myself, and stared at his hand gently covering mine.

"So", he asked, his warm voice darker and sweeter than the chocolate in front of me. "Will you be coming?"

No! I mustn't. Cate would be there, and Liv. It would just end up in tears on all sides, and more trouble than this could ever be worth. And it wouldn't work out anyway with me and David. However I might look to him right now, I'm merely a pizza-boy, not even remotely a match for a senator's son even if there weren't that little problem of my gender.
I just had to say 'no'.

"I... might."

Now that's been a definite 'no'. Very reasonable. But these eyes...

"Just 'might'...?"

Please, David, don't be so sweet! I'm just trying to safe both of us from trouble...

"I - I haven't got an invitation", I said in a weak attempt to get out of this with doing more damage than I had already done.

"I invite you!", David exclaimed cheerfully. He really was serious about this.

"You really think your dad will accept any guests you invite when he doesn't even let you decide who you're going to marry?"

"Yeah, probably. So what. I'll just steal one out of his desk. He'll never notice."

I'm lost.
I can't accept his invitation and not show up at his party without ruining the little bit of romance that there was between the two of us.

"Now I only need to know you address, so I know where to send the invitation."

No, I was wrong. NOW I'm lost.

"Please, David, I can't tell you my address..."

"Why not?"

"It's..." Now what was I supposed to say here? The truth? Probably not.
"I just can't. It'll just end up in trouble."

David just looked at me in slightly disappointed confusion, understandably so as I was just showing a rather rejective secrecy for someone being invited to a second date.

"Can't you just deposit it at the entrance?"

Now what was that? I wasn't going to show up there, anyway. Why was I fanning his hopes?

"But I would still need to know your name, then...", David said with the sweetest shy smirk.

Oh fuck, this was not getting any better.

"I can't tell you my name. Please accept that."

"What's so dangerous about your name?"

"David, I just can't", I said pleadingly, fully conscious of how weird I must have been sounding in his ears.

"Can't you at least give me ANY name?"

Before I could stop myself, I heard myself say:

"I could give you A name..."

What the bloody fuck was I doing there? I should leave as soon as possible before I just fucked up my whole life even more than it was already.
But David was sitting there across the table, still holding my hand, his face glowing in renewed hope, and I knew I couldn't pull back anymore.

"The name is Delphine de Lancré. She's... I'm staying at her place."

My mother? I was giving him the fucking name of my MOTHER?
Suddenly, my lack of self-control started to frighten me.
I had to go. NOW.

"I don't know anyone of that name living here in the area...", David said with a voice mixing both irritation and intrigue, not even remotely letting go of my hand.

"If it were easy, I could have given you my name in the first place." I looked at our hands at the table, saying far more sternly than I had wished for:
"I think I should go now."

But this bloody, fucking sweet bastard didn't even think of letting go of my hand. I was beginning to panic, and I wasn't sure how long I could keep calm before I would bolt.

"You can't just disappear like that, without even giving me a name to call the person I will be dreaming of tonight. Who are you? Don't you please just leave me here with a riddle..."

Well, now that's a good question. Who was I?
A well-off son of an esteemed family hanging out at the country-club? Or rather the snow-ball throwing pizza-boy? What about the dashing fencer who would be able to beat the crap out of him in whatever match he could come up with?
But the rich son was long dead, the fencer just an apparition. And I loathed the pizza-boy more than I would have ever wanted me to believe.
So what was I to answer him? What?

"I can only give you another riddle", I heard myself say. Oh perfect! How pathetically melodramatic!

But my sweet David just looked at me in sad anticipation, as if he really accepted that I was doing all this because I did not see any other way. How I loathed I would never be the man to be at his side.

"If you can solve my riddle, I will tell you my name."

And I knew I would. If he could see all the persons I was within me, and still could love me, there was no reason not to tell him. So I began, not really knowing where the lines came from, but dearly hoping he would get my point.

"Wearing a blue uniform with red marks,
running through the forest like a squirrel in search of food,
but the pizza-boy,
he is not.

A shining suit as white as snow,
fencing like a musketeer,
but a student,
he is not.

A pullover as soft as a duckling's feathers,
skating like a love-sick fool,
but a member of the country-club,
he is not.

Now who could that be?"

Fear and hope were clashing in my heart when I dared to look at David's face again, but there was only confusion to be found in the green depths of his eyes.

"What the fuck are you talking of?"

Okay...
So that's what dying was supposed to feel like.

I ripped my hand away from his, fighting tears that were welling up violently.

"I'll better go now", I said, more sobbing than anything else, abruptly turning around, completely ignoring the fact that I toppled my chair in the process, leaving a completely flabbergasted David behind.

I had to make sense of all this, had to explain this to him, but first of all, I had to get away from here, from him. NOW.

But within seconds, he was next to me again, trying to get hold of my arm, saying:

"Now what's wrong? Don't leave. Please!"

But I refused to answer, and luckily, one of the waiter's stopped him to figure out who was to pay for the drinks, giving me the opportunity to gain some lead.

Most gratefully, I noted that Christopher had observed my sudden wish to leave, already waiting at the shore with my shoes, and with his help, I was able to get out of my skates before David could get hold of me again. I didn't bother to put on my shoes again and was running up the slope to the main building as I heard David after me:

"PLEASE! Don't leave! Beautiful, troubled, mysterious boy! Please!"

But I was just running, trying to get away from this man who made my head spin, made my resolution turn to jelly and filled my heart with more joy than I would ever have believed possible. I just needed some time to sort out my overflowing heart, but I needed it now!
Couldn't he just accept that?

Slipping on a patch of snow on a steeper piece of the path, I lost one of the skates, but I couldn't have cared less.
Why the fuck hadn't he been able to see what I was trying to tell him with this riddle? Why wasn't he able to see who I really was, even if I hardly knew an answer to that?

And, most important of all, why did I have to love him so terribly when our love had so little chances?

At the entrance, Nicholas was already waiting, probably thanks to some invisible service of the house, and without once turning around to see if my loved David was still following me, I galloped out of the place like running for my life.

And I was crying all the way back to our mansion.

 

If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to: Osiris Brackhaus & Beryll

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